Wash Po: Holder, Duncan announce national guidelines on school discipline

BALTIMORE — Bringing new attention to harsh punishments in schools, federal officials Wednesday urged educators across the country to move away from practices that suspend students for minor infractions and disproportionately affect minorities.

“The need to rethink and redesign school discipline practices is frankly long overdue,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaking in Baltimore alongside Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. as the two leaders unveiled what were described as the first national guidelines on school discipline.

NYT’s has a discussion of this here. The guidelines can be found here. Hopefully this will help curb the disproportionate impact we see in native communities that stem from unequal punishment. A topic we recently posted on here and here.